Customer called a well know motoring organisation for help, as their car wouldn't start (2008 Toyota Ractis). Cranking over but no go.They arrived and did a scan but no fault codes showed up so they organised a tow truck to tow it to a place of repair. The customer also called me and I showed up just as the towie was lifting the vehicle. I asked him can I try something first before taking it away. I poured $10 of petrol in and it fired right up. If that's the type of incompetence they are experiencing, I would be cancelling my membership. Zero stars out of 5 from me.
cjohnw,
Jul 16, 9:56am
Surely there would have been a light on the dash or petrol gauge?
dublo,
Jul 16, 10:13am
A year or two ago my early 1960s British car "failed to proceed" on a couple of occasions, only to be able to be started again after a short time, and I could once again be on my merry way. Then it stalled as I turned into my street. We towed it home and called that well-known motoring organisation. Their young mechanic looked at it and wondered what was the black box on the bulkhead. I told him it was the voltage regulator. To be fair he had probably never encountered a car with a generator, let alone one with a postive-earth electrical system. He arranged for a senior mechanic to come and see it. Needless to say it started without any more attention, but he didn't have an answer for that "ghost of Joseph Lucas" problem. I asked fellow vintage car club members about the fault. "Check the earth connections between the battery, engine and body", said one. I did that, and cleaned a little rust off the connection to the body (it had not been disturbed in 55 years) and so far (fingers crossed) have had no more breakdowns. I thought that senior mechanic might have suggested that cause.
amasser,
Jul 16, 11:06am
Customer can't read a fuel gauge?
gph1961,
Jul 16, 11:09am
what gauge
gazzat22,
Jul 16, 11:19am
Thats exactly what my mechanic says.Before going into business he was a Foreman at a large Garage which had a tow truck and breakdown service contracted to the presumably same organisation.His theory is from experience the only people who work for this company are those who cant get a job as a mechanic anywhere else.!
bumfacingdown,
Jul 16, 11:19am
What sort of cheap scan tool does not tell you there is a no fuel problem?
op i hope you give the owner in writing that a faild fuelpump is now excluded from c.g.a due to the damage caused by running the tank dry.
kazbanz,
Jul 16, 1:05pm
UM --Im seeing total incompetence from the vehicle owner. A Ractis drives a VERY long way -like 20 km with the fuel light on. And yes I Agree totally with Intrade. I would be clearly documenting that the vehicle was run out of fuel totally then cranked several times dry to protect yourself from any claims on the fuel pump which at the very least got fairly hot
trade4us2,
Jul 16, 1:15pm
My son had three mechanics around to try to get his old Mazda 323 started. All three of them had a different opinion about how the four ignition cables should be wired. Oddly enough the marking on the distributor was wrong!
electromic,
Jul 16, 5:36pm
A breakdown service is great until you are towing a big caravan/trailer. I have helped several people who have broken down and had their car towed home ( or to the nearest garage) but the trailer/caravan is left on the side of the road. The other problem is transporting the people home. My workmates VW Toureg had gone into limp mode because of a leaking injector. They were very close to a camping ground so were advised to keep towing their caravan in limp mode to the camping ground. Their vehicle was towed to the service agents and they had a nice couple of days at the beach. They paid for a flat deck truck to collect their caravan and transport it home. Their friends picked them up from the beach and delivered them home. Approx $2500 was the bill for the repairs to the VW, $700 for the truck, and they gave $100 for fuel to their friends.
elect70,
Jul 16, 5:42pm
Remember AA approved garages , they were only appproved because they paid a sub to AA not because of their workmanship . Same with radiator repairers . So iff AA recommended them you went elswhere .
bigfatmat1,
Jul 16, 5:53pm
if they had the aa plus. Whatever you are towing and your car both get home. Rental car and accommodation as well
andrewcg53,
Jul 16, 6:21pm
It is often the simple things that get them lose battery terminals is another one.
muzz67,
Jul 16, 6:29pm
Same with M@$*&! Builders,, as long as someone pays a fee they're in--regardless of ability. Its all in the marketing.
intrade,
Jul 16, 6:41pm
#16 i fixed a tiguan fsi 4600$ the client is happy as vw told him it be more then the value of the car to repair. i still made money and thats the jobs i need, not cheapskates who want all that work for 50 cent payment. A Touareg is basically the mercedes of vw purchase and repairs are for people who have 50.000$ a month income and 6 to 15 grand is like 50$ to them . its one reason i dont own a touareg. if i did it would have to be the v10 tdi with 6 speed manual transmission
intrade,
Dec 22, 10:50pm
its not just builders its everywhere. i had a container delivered and extra work done@175$-per h , while the guy at least did know what he was doing he constantly said he had no time. They all just go to work to collect wages and do as little as possible thats the real problem
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